diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index fdd9788..85827b1 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -559,3 +559,6 @@ AC_MSG_NOTICE([
 
 ])
 SPICE_PRINT_MESSAGES
+
+AS_IF([test "x$enable_pulse" = "xyes"],
+  AC_MSG_WARN([PulseAudio backend is deprecated and will be removed in a future release]))
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 4b49a24..4ade991 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@ endif
 spice_gtk_has_pulse = false
 d = dependency('libpulse-mainloop-glib', required: get_option('pulse'))
 if d.found()
+  warning('PulseAudio backend is deprecated and will be removed in a future release')
   spice_glib_deps += d
   spice_gtk_config_data.set('HAVE_PULSE', '1')
   spice_gtk_has_pulse = true